On Tuesday 23rd June 2026, Our Lady and Saint Neot, Liskeard; Our Lady of Light, Sclerder Abbey, Looe; Our Lady of the Angels, Saltash; St Joan of Arc, Torpoint; held our Parish Picnic at Buckfast Abbey in the wonderful relaxing and joyful, atmospheric grounds of the Benedictine Monastery on the edge of Dartmoor, Devon. The day was kindly planned and organised by our Parish Council and many parishioners came, representing the above four churches of our parish.

We arrived in time for the mid-day Mass, Fr Cyriacus, who had joined us, was invited by Father Abbot to officiate the Mass for us in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.
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After Mass we were able to look around the tranquil St Mary’s Abbey and its rare opportunity to encounter a Roman Catholic monastic community. Today Buckfast Abbey is the only English Medieval Monastery to have been restored and used again for its original purpose.

We then adjourned to the shade and picnic benches outside to enjoy our picnic and walk around the grounds. The constantly evolving gardens of Buckfast Abbey provide a pleasant environment for visitors and monks alike. Modelled partly on medieval plans, the gardens have been planted simply and boldly to reflect the scale of the church and the unadorned character of the surrounding architecture. The gardens are separated into small, self-contained areas – the Lavender Garden, Sensory Garden, and Physic Garden – which are surrounded by open spaces and wonderful trees that change with the seasons. In the summer, the gardens are filled with their scent, attracting bees and butterflies.

At 2pm we gathered round the beautiful statue of Smiling Mary looking down at the baby Jesus in her arms, to sing and pray. We started with Pope Leo’s prayer for peace from Easter and sang “Make me a channel of thy peace”. We held a minute silence for all those currently suffering in world conflicts and prayed for the only Christian town in Israel, Taybeh, where Christians are suffering. We said a decade of the rosary: The Crucifixion: and we finished by singing “As I kneel before thee” and a final prayer for our parish and thanked God for a blessed day and for our unity.  Weather-wise it turned out to be one of the hottest days ever recorded in June! But that did not deter the number of parishioners who turned out for a day that offered an opportunity for prayer, quiet contemplation and reflection.

After completing the recent RCIA course, today we celebrated as two members of our church family, Jackie and Oliver, took an important step in their journey of faith through the Sacrament of Confirmation. Congratulations both of you!

On Wednesday 19th November 2025 – a coach left Liskeard with parishioners from our four churches making our fourth and final Holy Door visit celebrating the Jubilee Year of Hope.
Stopping on our pilgrimage was the Catholic Church of St Boniface, Crediton, Devon and the National Shrine of St Boniface. The church today is clearly a modern building, constructed in the late 1960s. A foundation stone in the porch was gifted by the Bishop of Fulda and blessed by the late Bishop of Plymouth, Cyril Restieaux. The Diocese of Fulda also donated relics of St Boniface – one of which is placed in the altar, while the other {a part of his vertebrae} is housed in the shrine area. Additionally, the local Anglican church contributed a stone from the medieval parish church, which has been incorporated into the baptistry.

St Boniface was born around AD 680 in Crediton, Devon. His baptismal name was Wynfrid or Wynfrith, he grew up in Crediton. He first studied at a Benedictine monastery in Exeter before moving to Nursling {Nhutscelle}, near Southampton, where he was ordained as a priest. Although he was a noted scholar and teacher, he felt the call to missionary work.

Wynfrid spent most of his life travelling extensively in Northern Europe as an apostle, re-organizing the Christian church. During these years Pope Gregory III granted him the insignia of Archbishop, and he was renamed Boniface. In 753, as he grew older, Boniface resigned from his diocese and set out once more to evangelize the Frisian tribes. In 754, near Dokkum, he and his companions were ambushed by a band of pagan warriors. Boniface was struck down, and according to tradition, he raised up a book to shield himself, which was pierced by a sword. According to his wishes, his body was taken to his Abbey at Fulda for burial, where his tomb remains a site of pilgrimage. His holiness, wisdom, and martyrdom affirmed his status as a saint.
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We then visited the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and the Mother of Him who Hung Thereon, Crediton. Before Exeter Cathedral was built in the twelfth century, this Collegiate Church was the Cathedral for the diocese of Sherborne.
  

Below are some photos from our parish trip to Medjugorje. 

On Sundays 13th & 21st September 2025, we had the honour of Fr Cyriacus' friend from Nigeria and now in Newcastle upon Tyne, Fr Remigius, joining with Fr Cyriacus to celebrate our Masses. It was great to meet him and we wish him all the best. 

Our third Holy Door visit to Dorchester Church of the Holy Trinity & The Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, & St Ignatius
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On Wednesday 17th September 2025 – to celebrate the Jubilee Year of Hope – a coach with parishioners from the four churches in our parish visited the above churches. We were greeted and made most welcome by Fr Babu at Holy Trinity and his volunteers, who had given up their day to show us around.

Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, & St Ignatius, Chideock and its Martyrs also made us most welcome, this was the highlight of our trip – such a beautiful church steeped in the history of these English Martyrs.
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We had time to wander around, reflect and meditate. Also, we were allowed to venerate the relics of some of these Martyrs. We were also able to see the painting by Francis H Newbery {1855-1946}, a celebrated local artist to the area, which depicts five of the Chideock Martyrs.

On Wednesday 16th July 2025, twenty-four people from Liskeard, Sclerder Abbey and Saltash, visited Buckfast Abbey for our parish picnic / teddy bear’s picnic – Pilgrim Bear Francis came along also!

We all arrived in time to attend Mass and look around the Abbey before adjourning to the picnic benches outside to have our picnic and a walk around the beautiful gardens. At 2pm we gathered around, the beautiful statue of Smiling Mary looking down at the baby Jesus in her arms, to sing and pray. We started with a prayer for peace across the world and sang “Make me a channel of thy peace” and said a decade of the rosary: The Crucifixion: we finished by singing “As I kneel before thee” and a final prayer.

​Though the clouds were grey and there was spots of muzzling rain, the weather on the whole was kind to us.

A message to All from Fr Cyriacus: 

"I want to say a BIG “THANK YOU” to everyone for my birthday celebration. It was amazing. Thank you for your gifts and the sacrifice you have put in to organizing the celebration. I sincerely appreciate them all and wish you God’s abundant blessings."

​Fr Cyriacus.